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COMM 142W:Media Economics (COMM 242)

Uses economics to examine the generation and consumption of information in communication markets. Covers concepts that play a large role in information economics, including public goods, economies of scale, product differentiation, and externalities. Looks at individuals' information demands as consumers, producers, audience members, and voters. Topics include economics of Internet, sustainability of accountability journalism, and marketplace of ideas.

Last offered: Autumn 2017
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI

COMM 143W:Communication Policy and Regulation (COMM 243)

Focuses on the development, implementation, and evaluation of policies affecting communication markets. Policy issues include universal service, digital divide, Internet regulation, intellectual property, privacy, television violence, content diversity, media ownership, antitrust, and impact of news on government accountability. Examines political economy of communication policy and the evolution of policies across time.

Last offered: Winter 2016
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI

COMM 152:Constitutional Law (COMM 252, POLISCI 126P)

This course covers Supreme Court case law concerning governmental powers, equal protection, and certain fundamental rights. The course investigates the constitutional foundation for democratic participation in the United States, covering topics such as the Fourteenth Amendment's protections against discrimination on grounds of race, gender, and other classifications, as well as the individual rights to voting and intimate association, and an introduction to First Amendment rights of free speech and press. Students will be evaluated on class participation, a midterm moot court with both a written and oral component, and a take-home final exam. Lectures will be twice per week and a discussion section once per week.

Algorithms have become central actors in today's digital world. In areas as diverse as social media, journalism, education, healthcare, and policing, computing technologies increasingly mediate communication processes. This course will provide an introduction to the social and cultural forces shaping the construction, institutionalization, and uses of algorithms. In so doing, we will explore how algorithms relate to political issues of modernization, power, and inequality. Readings will range from social scientific analyses to media coverage of ongoing controversies relating to Big Data. Students will leave the course with a better appreciation of the broader challenges associated with researching, building, and using algorithms.

Does information help autocrats and dictators stay in power? Or does information help topple authoritarian regimes? This course will examine how authoritarian regimes try to control information through surveillance, propaganda, and censorship, what influences the effectiveness of these information control measures, and how changes in technology (Internet, social media, mobile) affect the dynamics of information control.

Last offered: Autumn 2016
| UG Reqs: WAY-SI

COMM 158:Censorship and Propaganda (COMM 258)

While the internet and other digital technologies have amplified the voice of ordinary citizens, the power of governments and other large organizations to control and to manipulate information is increasingly apparent. In this course, we will examine censorship and propaganda in the age of the internet and social media. What constitutes censorship and propaganda in the digital age? Who conducts censorship and propaganda, and how? What are the consequences and effects of censorship and propaganda in this era of information proliferation? How have censorship and propaganda changed from previous eras? Students will take a hands-on, project-based approach to exploring these questions.

This course examines the theory and practice of American campaigns and elections. First, we will attempt to explain the behavior of the key players -- candidates, parties, journalists, and voters -- in terms of the institutional arrangements and political incentives that confront them. Second, we will use current and recent election campaigns as "laboratories" for testing generalizations about campaign strategy and voter behavior. Third, we examine selections from the academic literature dealing with the origins of partisan identity, electoral design, and the immediate effects of campaigns on public opinion, voter turnout, and voter choice. As well, we'll explore issues of electoral reform and their more long-term consequences for governance and the political process.

Focus is on how politicians and government learn what Americans want and how the public's preferences shape government action; how surveys measure beliefs, preferences, and experiences; how poll results are criticized and interpreted; how conflict between polls is viewed by the public; how accurate surveys are and when they are accurate; how to conduct survey research to produce accurate measurements; designing questionnaires that people can understand and use comfortably; how question wording can manipulate poll results; corruption in survey research.

COMM 166:Virtual People (COMM 266)

(Graduate students register for
COMM 266.) The concept of virtual people or digital human representations; methods of constructing and using virtual people; methodological approaches to interactions with and among virtual people; and current applications. Viewpoints including popular culture, literature, film, engineering, behavioral science, computer science, and communication.

COMM 172:Media Psychology (COMM 272)

(Graduate students register for
COMM 272.) The literature related to psychological processing and the effects of media. Topics: unconscious processing; picture perception; attention and memory; emotion; the physiology of processing media; person perception; pornography; consumer behavior; advanced film and television systems; and differences among reading, watching, and listening.